1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and systems for linking information between different parties/nodes in a global computer network. More specifically, this invention relates to methods and systems for storing, retrieving and linking consumer information across the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several companies are utilizing the power of the Internet to amass and provide information on consumers to various companies. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,061 to Merriman discloses a system for displaying custom advertising on Internet pages. The disclosed system utilizes a redirect or hidden connection feature built into the Internet Protocol (IP) network Hypertext Transport protocol (HTTP). In Merriman, a merchant site redirects a consumer browser to an advertising server by placing an advertisement that is stored on the advertising server onto the merchant page. Once the consumer browser accesses the merchant page, the browser is redirected or establishes a hidden temporary connection to the advertising server so that the advertisement can be retrieved. Once the browser is connected to the advertising server, the advertising server reads any of its Internet cookies that have been previously stored on the consumer's computer. If a cookie is found, the advertising server then performs one or more of the following tasks:    Looks up a Consumer Identification String stored in the cookie with the advertising server's merchant site consumer history database,    Determines the consumer's web browsing preferences,    Determines which of the ad banners that the advertising server is licensed to place will most likely appeal to the current consumer,    Updates the consumer's cookies with any new information    Redirects or connects the consumer browser back to the merchant server,    Provides the merchant address with the Internet address of the advertising banner determined to be preferred by the consumer,    Updates the advertising server with new information on the consumer history database,    Updates the advertising banner read or placed database to indicate that the advertisement was displayed on the merchant's Internet page.
Unfortunately, the type of information that is made available to the merchant server is very limited. For example, in these systems, the only information available is that which has been stored in the merchant's consumer file and the cross-session advertising consumer preference information obtained from third party advertising servers.
For this reason, there is an existing need for merchants and advertisers to be provided with systems and methods that provide information outside this limited universe. This need will become more prevalent as the Internet becomes more widely used in the home and for businesses.